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Libyan forces bombard rebels in the east and west

TOBRUK, Libya (AP) - Moammar Gadhafi intensified offensives in
the east and the west Wednesday with relentless shelling aimed at
routing holdout rebels and retaking control of the country he has
ruled with an iron fist for more than four decades.

As Gadhafi's forces gained momentum, the rebels lashed out at
the West for failing to come to their aid.

"People are fed up. They are waiting impatiently for an
international move," said Saadoun al-Misrati, a rebel spokesman in
the city of Misrata, the last rebel-held city in the west, which
came under heavy shelling Wednesday.

"What Gadhafi is doing, he is exploiting delays by
international community. People are very angry that no action is
being taken against Gadhafi's weaponry."

The breakdown of rebel defenses in Ajdabiya, 480 miles (800
kilometers) southeast of Tripoli, threatened to open the gateway to
the long stretch of eastern Libya that has been in the control of
the opposition throughout the monthlong uprising. Its fall would
allow regime forces to bombard Benghazi, Libya's second largest
city and the de facto capital of the opposition, by air, sea and
land.

Gadhafi's forces continued shelling the city of 140,000 people
overnight and throughout the morning with relentless artillery fire
and little resistance from the rebels.

An activist hiding out in the city said the rebels were lightly
armed but still managed to ambush a group of regime troops marching
into the city on foot late Tuesday, but the victory was short
lived. Artillery shelling was ongoing, he said.

"The rebels set a trap and managed to take over four tanks, but
now I see none of them," Abdel-Bari Zwei said when reached by
telephone. "Ajdabiya is witnessing unprecedented destruction. This
is the end of the city."

Residents in Ajdabiya fled either to tents set up outside the
city or 140 miles (200 kilometers) northeast to Benghazi.

"The shelling hasn't stopped since last night. The residential
areas are under attack," Zwei said, adding that the hospital had
been overwhelmed and many of the injured had to be taken to
Benghazi.

The city was besieged from the west, where Gadhafi's brigades
were deployed from his stronghold of Sirte, and from the north with
a warship in the Mediterranean Sea.

"The city is sealed off from the south, from the west and the
northern Zwitina port by a warship," he said.

Libyan state television aired calls for the opposition to stop
fighting, apparently hoping to sway populations in the east away
from support of the rebels.

Ajdabiya has been a key supply point for the rebellion, with
ammunition and weapons depots. Until now, the Gadhafi forces'
offensive toward the east has battled over two oil ports on the
Mediterranean Sea, and Ajdabiya is the first heavily populated city
in the area they have tried to retake.

It was a major setback to the rebels, who less than two weeks
ago were poised to march on Tripoli, the capital, and had appeared
capable of sweeping Gadhafi out of power, inspired by successful
uprisings in Egypt and Tunisia. But the regime's better armed and
organized military has reversed the tide as efforts led by France
and Britain to create a no-fly zone to protect the rebels
foundered.

Oil prices rose to above $98 a barrel Wednesday in Asia as fears
that clashes in Libya and the Gulf kingdom of Bahrain could further
disrupt crude supplies outweighed concern Japan's disaster will
crimp demand.

Gadhafi warned rebels: "There are only two possibilities:
Surrender or run away."

He said he was not like the Tunisian or Egyptian leaders who
fell after anti-government protests. "I'm very different from
them," he said in an interview published Tuesday in the Italian
newspaper Il Giornale. "People are on my side and give me
strength."

In a separate appearance, Gadhafi addressed supporters in
Tripoli late Tuesday, calling the rebels "rats" and blasting
Western nations. "They want Libyan oil," he said.

During his appearance, a crowd watching on a TV projection on a
wall in Benghazi shouted curses and threw shoes at the image, in
video broadcast live by Al-Jazeera satellite TV.

Gadhafi's forces also launched an attack on Misrata - which for
days has been under a punishing blockade, its population running
out of supplies. The barrage came a day after the government
recaptured the last rebel-held city west of Tripoli, solidifying
his control over the coastline from the capital to the Tunisian
border.

"There is coordinated shelling by Gadhafi's brigades firing
artillery and machine guns from three different city entrances,"
rebel spokesman Saadoun al-Misrati said, speaking by satellite
phone.

He said the shelling began at 7 a.m. and regular telephone lines
had been cut.

Europe and the United States, meanwhile, were tossing back and
forth the question of whether to impose a no-fly zone that the
opposition has pleaded for.

On Tuesday, top diplomats from some of the world's biggest
powers deferred to the U.N. Security Council to take action against
Libya, as France and Britain failed to win support for a no-fly
zone in the face of German opposition and U.S. reluctance. France
said the Group of Eight agreed that a new U.N. resolution should be
adopted by week's end with measures to help Libyan rebels.

A U.N. resolution introduced Tuesday includes no-fly provisions.
It also calls for increased enforcement of an arms embargo and
freezing more Libyan assets, according to U.N. diplomats said who
spoke on condition of anonymity because the text has not been
released. One diplomat said the Security Council will be looking to
see whether members of the Arab League, which is pressing for the
no-fly zone, are ready to seriously participate in the
establishment and operation of a zone.

The U.S. added sanctions Tuesday, banning business with Libya's
foreign minister and 16 companies it owns or controls.